Good Night
by Drake Rhapsody
Summary: "No-one in this world is gonna hurt my little brother, least of all a stupid dragon from a stupid nightmare. Don't be afraid"
**This is the translation of mi fic "Buenas Noches", which is in Spanish. I'd appreciate reviews about my spelling or grammar mistakes; as you may know, English is not my mother tongue.** **It'll be nice if you tell me also what do you think.**

 **This is based on the 2k12 series, but before it all started.**

 **So, the turtles are not my creation, unfortunately.**

 **Ladies, gentlemen, mutants and aliens, my name is Drake Rhapsody and I give you:**

 **Good Night**

The silent drippling of the sewers and the rustling of rat paws over the walkways, both sides of the gutters were the only things to hear for miles away.

The strange subterranean world was asleep, unlike the sleepless city above it.

In a little hideout, too far away for maintenance service to find out, five strange creatures build some short of den to shelter themselves.

"Den", however, was not the most accurate word for it, not since the little "cubs" the old rat had brought there, almost fifteen years ago, had grown up and re-decorated the place more to their likings.

The place was still a hole in the ground but, as the beginning of one of that stories they had found down the drains, not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, as it was to be expected of a sewer.

No, that abandoned old Underground Station had tap water, electricity and even Wi-Fi, besides all sorts of furniture and electrical appliances newly repaired a Pinball and a color television.

Its inhabitants call it "The Lair" without further ado, but it had everything to be considered as a real home.

A door creaked and a figure put his head out the threshold.

Everything was quiet.

Breathing deeply, the turtle sneaked without a sound to another room's door. He hesitated before knocking, with his fist raised, but finally he let it fall on the wood, softly.

A light snoring was the only answer. The turtle lowered the handle, pushing the door with his other hand.

The emergency light flicked and crackled.

His heart jump to his mouth and he rushed inside the room, closing the door behind him, not caring if he was noisy.

His brother, who slept soundly on the other side of that room, jumped up in his bed:

"What the…?"

"Hush, Mikey, pipe it down…"

The half-asleep turtle rubbed his eyes, blinking to see, behind the fog of the dream, which one of his brothers had just woke him up.

"Raph?"

Raphael navigated across the room, avoiding carefully the toys, the moldy slices of pizza and… and only god knows what else, and came to sit on his little brother's bed.

"You were screaming" he lied shamelessly "Seem to me you had a nightmare… wanna share?"

Michelangelo blinked again, forcing his sleepy neurons to formulate a coherent answer:

"Did I _scream_?" finally managed to say.

Raphael nodded and crossed his arms:

"Yep. You didn't wake up anyone, though."

Michelangelo shrugged:

"Should have been out of joy" he said " 'cause I was dreaming Leo and I were in Captain Ryan's starship and they let me drive it."

Raph crawled under the sheets, bumping his brother aside to make himself more room:

"Don't lie to me, Mikey" he grunted "You were crying out about some really big and really dangerous dragon.

"But I didn't… oh. Oh!" Michelangelo opened his eye wide, and then he left them ajar, understanding what was going on "What else was I screaming about?"

"The dragon was asleep under a mountain of gold and then someone woke him up and it got down to that town on a lake and it just burned it all. And no-one could do nothing to escape because the boats were burned too… and… and I had…"

"You were in my dream?"

"Yeah, and I couldn't do anything, and all burned, and…"

Raphael interrupted himself half way down the sentence, knowing he had said too much. Michelangelo looked at him for a moment and then dropped his gaze to his lap. Raphael noticed then that he had both hands balled onto fists, twisting the edge of the covers. He cleared his throat, silently thanking the darkness for hiding his face from his brother, because he was red of embarrassment.

"And then I woke you up, because you were screaming too loud" he finished in a rush. "You were going to wake Splinter up" He justified, scratching his neck with his hand. "Do you… want me to stay with you? So the dragon doesn't come back" He clarified.

Michelangelo smiled and lay down again.

"Yes, please"

And both brothers curled up under the sheets, shell facing shell.

Some minutes passed through the quietness and, when Michelangelo was drifting off, he heard Raphael's voice again, just a whisper:

"You burned and died"

He turned around just to find his brother did that too, and now they were facing each other. He could barely see a thing, but Raphael's eyes had a green hue that almost was phosphorescent, like cat's eyes.

"And then?" he whispered. "What happened then?"

Raphael avoided his gaze.

"Then I burned too"

He stretched an arm to his little brother, trembling, and hugged him fast, like he was afraid of all that to really happen.

Michelangelo snuggled into Raphael's plastron and returned the hug, patting his shell in a soothe movement.

"You're right, I did have a nightmare" muttered, smiling slightly. "I was dreaming about that story Donnie read to us before going to bed…"

"I knew it" he heard Raphael's voice over his head, a little bit hoarse. "You know that dragon isn't real, don't you? He can't hurt you."

Silence overcame again and this time was Michelangelo who broke it, a few minutes later:

"Raph?"

"Tell me"

"How does the story ends?"

Raphael snorted but didn't let him go, not even an inch.

"Donnie read it to us earlier" grumbled: "The dragon dies. It was killed by that peasant with the arrow, would you believe that? A creature so big had a weak spot so obvious…

He let him talk, never stopping his soothing movement over his shell, listening quietly how the arrow reached the little opening in the enormous dragon's scaled breastplate, how the people of the lake turned their gazes to those who dwelled the mountain, asking for help, and how it was war and three of the main characters fell, fighting with honor. At the end, when the little main character came back home, to his couch and books, Raphael was much calmer.

Michelangelo decided to deliver the _coup-de-grace_ :

"You have good aim, Raph" he observed, pretending to be very worried. "If the dragon was here to take me… could you hit the target?"

"Of course I would" came the fast answer "No-one in this world is gonna hurt my little brother, least of all a stupid dragon from a stupid nightmare. Don't be afraid"

Michelangelo strangled a laugh, disguising it as a breath of relief.

"Thanks, Raph" he said.

"You're welcome, Mikey" was the immediate answer.

For the third time there was silence, and for the third time it was broken:

"Mikey?"

Michelangelo yawned, already closer to R.E.M. phase than the real world.

"Whaaaat, Raph…"

Silence.

"Don't tell Leo"

Michelangelo smiled and got himself more comfortable over the pillow.

"Ninja's honor"

"Thanks"

"You're welcome"

"Good night, Mikey"

"Good night, Raph"

Moments after, both turtles were sleeping soundly, cuddled against each other, the older brother's arms surrounding the little brother's shell, and the sole presence of the last one casting away every vestige of the nightmare.

 **Oh, Raph, Raph… if only you said "I've had a nightmare"…**

 **By the way, if you guess which book did Donnie read to them before going to bed, you'll have extra points!**

 **I hope you've liked this.**

 **Drake Rhapsody**


End file.
